From the book Walking with Angels by Tony Stockwell

[Julie]

Tony writes.....

While working in Spain with a friend not so long ago, we were introduced to an amazing woman called Maria, who had for many years worked with children.....She told us that many of the children she worked with were from broken homes or had particularly challenging behaviour, and she sometimes felt she was running out of ideas, not only about how to deal with the kids on a day-to-day basis, but also how she might break through and help them create better opportunities for their futures.

When she shared her concerns with a friend one day, she was perplexed by the suggestion that she should try teaching the children to meditate.  This was something she had never even tried herself and she couldn't see how it would be appropriate to a group of challenging and sometimes aggressive kids who wanted to be anywhere else but her classroom.

After a particularly difficult series of episodes, however, she was about ready to try anything, and as a last ditch effort invited a meditation teacher to her class.

They initially started with six children, who were among the better behaved of the group and Maria observed with great interest how the children remained attentive and still during the first guided meditation.  This in itself was extraordinary as most of the time when she tried to get them to focus on a given exercise, she couldn't keep their attention for more than ten minutes.  Yet here they were, eyes closed and seemingly relaxed and content for about half an hour.

After a few sessions, there was a remarkable difference in the kids' behaviour - not only while in meditation but, more importantly, afterwards, when they were far more amenable, polite and able to focus.  Maria was so struck by these results that she tried similar meditation exercises with the most unruly and challenging children.  These kids didn't display quite such favourable results, although the majority of them were able to sit still for at least 10 minutes, and their behaviour for the rest of the day noticeably improved.

After some difficulty in convincing her superiors, Maria gained permission to include meditation exercises in the children's schedule, between 9.15 and 10 am every morning.

The meditations evolved very quickly.  Each child was asked to visualise their favourite colour and watch it swirling in their minds, and then picture themselves wearing this colour and reflect how it made them feel. 

.....after a few weeks, the children started to suggested different things they might try for next time - 'Please Miss, can it be the Amazon jungle? or somewhere with icebergs!' - and they would then come up with their own very creative storylines for these adventures.

....after 3 or 4 weeks of daily sessions, the children really began to change.  Beyond the fact that their concentration levels improved enormously, even the most rebellious kids, Maria noticed that they seemed to be acting in a kinder way towards one another, with more courteousness and a marked reduction in the level of bullying, which at one point had been rife among them.

A further, very positive development was that two of the girls in the class had seen each other in their meditations and felt strangely drawn to one another.  They went on to form a strong friendship, which delighted Maria since until then both of them had found it difficult to create and sustain relationships within their peer group.  Then as a result of the new bond between them, they found it easier to reach out to the rest of the group and forge further friendships.

...It transpired that the theme of the children's meditations had changed entirely when one of them asked if they could in the next session visualise a journey that was out of this world.....when she quizzed the child further as to what exactly she meant, she said, wouldn't it be fantastic to explore heaven? 

...gradually more of the children asked Maria, either privately or within the meditation session, to take them to places that were beyond this world.  They wanted to journey into the skies, see the stars, visit the moon - and perhaps even go beyond the universe and get a glimpse of heaven itself.